1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to monitoring systems, and more specifically to networks for remotely monitoring the condition of devices such as those employed in heating, ventilating, and cooling (HVAC) systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is desirable to be able to monitor remotely equipment that may require periodic preventive maintenance and/or that may require rapid response time should a catastrophic failure occur. For example, the components of a building""s HVAC system must be monitored or checked frequently. Preventive maintenance must be performed on a constant basis, particularly with larger systems. Fault or failure conditions may vary in degrees of severity, however the contractor responsible for maintaining the HVAC equipment should be made aware of each failure in due course. Since a contractor, in all likelihood, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the installations of multiple clients, and since fault conditions may occur at any time of day or night, it is not practical for a contractor to remain on-site all the time. Remote detection at a central location (for example, the contractor""s office) of fault conditions is desirable and often crucial.
It is further desirable to be able to activate or deactivate a piece of equipment remotely or send it commands remotely. It is also desirable to know the approximate failure rate or frequency of failure of each piece of equipment. One can make installation recommendations as to which model or brand of equipment is best suited for a particular site, and one can anticipate the failure of an already-installed piece of equipment and specific components therein based on how long it is running.
Some remote monitoring devices have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,687 to Sutton et al. describes a universal interface for remotely-monitored security or alarm systems. In Sutton et al., a local control unit at a monitored site can, under an event condition, initiate a telephone call to a central control unit to alert a human operator of an event such as an intrusion, fire, or other emergency at the site. The local control unit, via the telephone link, sends a serial number indicative of the specific site and emergency to the monitoring center computer. The monitoring center computer receives the serial number and alerts a human operator as to the emergency. The human operator can then act accordingly, e.g., establish one- or two-way communication with the local site.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,104 to Argyroudis et al. describes a wireless remote telemetry system or data transport which provides real-time reading and remote control of devices such as electricity meters. A home base unit communicates with remote metering units via cellular telephone lines. The home base unit also communicates with a central controller operated by the electric utility. When the utility determines that there is too much load on the power grid, for example, the central controller can send messages to an appliance to turn off. A customer could also remotely activate or deactivate an appliance via a cellular phone through the home base unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,061,916 to French et al. describes a system for remotely reporting, in graphical format, alarms or other conditions in a building""s automation system. Sensors in a building are hooked up via a telephone line to control module which is, in turn, hooked up to a central controller. When a sensor detects a fault condition, graphical information is compiled at the central controller and transmitted to one or more remote facsimile machines.
All of the above systems and the prior art are limited in scope because they do not allow for sufficient flexibility in routing fault messages to a variety of different potential recipients of such messages via a variety of different media, depending on the urgency or nature of the fault. Also, the above systems and the prior art do not enable customers and contractors to enter or modify such information easily. As an example, a customer that has an HVAC system with a monitoring network may want to send certain non-emergency condition notifications (e.g., filter needs cleaning) to certain individuals (e.g., contractor/maintenance personnel) via a certain medium (e.g., e-mail) and emergency condition notifications (e.g., low or high refrigerant pressure) to other individuals (building owner, contractor, etc.) via other means (e.g., via beeper or other personal communication device). Such a list of who to contact via what means depending on which fault has occurred may be referred to as a xe2x80x9cmessage profilexe2x80x9d. The conventional device/contractor interface requires a dedicated land line at both the HVAC device and the contractor; that is, the HVAC system requires its own phone line, and the contractor must have a dedicated modem line as well. Moreover, the conventional system does not allow for easy customer modifications to the message profile. The conventional systems also do not allow the user to determine the failure rate of the equipment or to determine which pieces of equipment are best suited for a specific site.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring multiple pieces of electrical and/or mechanical equipment in a cost-effective manner.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment that can deliver messages to different individuals for different fault conditions.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment that can deliver fault notification messages to different individuals for different fault conditions via different electronic media.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment that can receive data via different data transports in different formats and normalize the data so that outgoing information is not transport-specific.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment in which a customer may interactively modify its message profile.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment in which a customer may interactively modify its message profile via the Internet.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment in which a user may interactively alter the operation of a piece of equipment remotely.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment in which the functional logic may be modified.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for remotely monitoring electrical and/or mechanical equipment which can collect data over time concerning the monitored equipment.
The above and other objects are satisfied by the invention which is a remote equipment monitoring system and method for monitoring remote equipment. In the inventive method, a state of at least one parameter of at least one piece of the remote equipment is determined. A message indicative of the state is communicated from the piece of remote equipment to a computer server as an incoming message. A user is able to remotely configure or modify a user-defined message profile containing outgoing message routing instructions; the user-defined message profile is storable on the computer server in a plurality of tables, the routing instructions being of a number of types of information, and there being provided at least one table for each type of routing instruction. It may be determined whether an incoming message is an incoming exception message indicative of improper operation of the piece of remote equipment. If it is determined that an incoming message is an incoming exception message, at least one outgoing exception message is forwarded based on the incoming message to at least one user-defined communication device specifiable in the user-defined message profile. The user can remotely configure or modify the user-defined message profile by remotely accessing the computer server.
The inventive system may include a sensor in local communication with a piece of remote equipment or the sensor may be pre-built into the remote equipment. In either case, the sensor detects a state of at least one parameter of the piece of remote equipment. An interface unit is locally connected to the sensor and is provided with a message generating mechanism. A computer server is in remote communication with the interface unit, the server being adapted to receive messages generated by the interface unit. The computer server has a user interface; a user can remotely access the computer server via the user interface to remotely configure a user-defined message profile containing outgoing message routing instructions. The computer server is provided with a data base having a plurality of tables; the routing instructions include a number of types of information, each type of the routing instruction being placeable on its own table. If the sensor detects an exception condition in the piece of remote equipment, the interface unit generates an incoming exception message indicative of the exception condition and forwards the message to the server. The server forwards at least one outgoing exception message to at least one predetermined user-defined remote communication device based on the incoming exception message (if generated) as specified in the user-defined message profile.
The system can contact a customer or contractor via a number of different media (fax, e-mail, pager, etc.) in case of an equipment failure. The contractor can determine which people to contact and which medium to use for which equipment failure. For example, if the condition is not very serious (e.g., filter needs cleaning), the contractor can set up the system to send a message via e-mail; if, however, it is serious (e.g., low/high refrigerant pressure), then the system can page the contractor and/or send a text message over his personal communication service (PCS). Also, the system includes the capability to send multiple messages to multiple recipients via differing media simultaneously for a given exception condition. Preferably, the system includes a centralized electronic message delivery device or server that routes the various incoming exception messages to the desired individuals via the desired electronic media in accordance with the predetermined message profile. More preferably, the contractor or consumer can access the centralized message server via the Internet and modify the message profile through software on the device.